


Books

by BubuBORG



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Blobsy, Dawn of X, Gen, House of X, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Post Age of X-Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubuBORG/pseuds/BubuBORG
Summary: Fred Dukes builds a life in the mutant nation of Krakoa, one book at a time.
Relationships: Elizabeth Braddock/Frederick Dukes
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Books

It was warm on Krakoa.

But not oppressively hot, as tropical islands tended to be.Fred Dukes wasn’t sure whether it was merely happenstance of location or if the Island themself was able to maintain a temperature that kept him from sweating excessively. 

Either way, Fred was thankful.

It was the sight of the formerly late St. John Allerdyce that convinced him to arrive through the Krakoa portal, and the promise of blanket immunity from what the X-types were now referring to as “human laws”.He would have laughed them off before, but—

But that was before.

Before, he wouldn’t have known what to do with himself on a tropical paradise filled with mutants that wasn’t a little debauched and alcohol-soaked.

The first thing he did was look for a book.

It was also the second, third and fourth thing.

By the time he was looking for another, he’d bumped into a young woman, with a toddler in tow.

“Shogo, c’mon—“ she groused as she tried to corral the kid into some kind of stroller, apparently back from grabbing some supplies from the makeshift store which had been literally whipped up by mutant ingenuity and the Living Island.

“Hey.”Fred spoke up.“You, uh…need some help?”

“Nah,” Jubilee said.“Eventually this buckin’ bronco…” she stops and looks up at Fred’s face, almost smiling, then grimacing in recognition.He’d stopped shaving since he’d arrived, and a mustache started growing.“Oh.Hey.”

“Ya sure?” Fred pressed.“Ain’t got nothin’ else going on.”

“Well, if you insist,” Jubilee handed him a shopping bag, and he held it in the hand not holding a book.They began to walk.“I’m just a ways over there, with Paige and them.”She spied the book in his hand.“What’s that you’re reading?”

He turned it onto its cover.“Um…’The Age of Anxiety’,” Fred told her.

“Whoof,” she exclaimed.“Too rich for my blood.Still working on ‘Hop on Pop’ with this guy.”

Fred brightened.“Do ya…I can get ya some Dr. Seuss if you want.I gotta work through Hellfire to get stuff imported here, but…”

Jubilee shrugged.“Sure beats _me_ having that extremely awkward conversation with Emma…Hey, Blob?”

“Hm?”

“Ya didn’t strike me as the book-readin’ type…no offense,” Jubilee said, sheepishly.

“I had a ton of books…um…” Fred struggled to get it out.“In that other place.”

Jubilee looked away.“Oh.Oh, _God_ , Fred.”She wiped at her eyes.“When we got out of that…crazy situation with X-Man and that other place…I didn’t let Shogo out of my sight for two weeks.I was so scared that I’d forget again, and…people were worried about me for awhile.I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”

Fred shrugged.“When you don’t have nothin’ you got nowhere to go but up.”He added, jokingly.“I also caught up on my Netflix.”

Jubilee snorted.“Yeah, me too.”A thought brightened her features.“Hey.You should think about starting a library with the other book nerds on the island.The QC would approve that in a heartbeat.”They stopped in front of a cluster of habitats.The scowling face of a newly-resurrected Angelo Espinosa peered at them from a porch swing.

“Well, this is me,” She said, taking her shopping bag back from Fred.“Thanks.”

“Yeah, sure,” Fred replied.“I meant it about the books.It’s no biggie.”

“Okay,” Jubilee said.“Oh, and Fred?”

Fred turned back around to face her.“Yeah?”

She took a few steps back toward him, and took his hand, which made him start.“Talk to her, okay?I know she’s the big muckity-muck Cap’n Britain now, but believe me.You two got a lot to talk about, just like the rest of us former ‘X-tremists’.It might help.”

Fred’s face betrayed nothing.the new mustache helped.“Thanks, kid.”

She went inside with Shogo, leaving Fred to wander back to his original path. 

The library idea had occurred to him, but he figured that between the Council, Hank McCoy, and any number of super-smart folks on the Island, it was already underway.

Then he thought of Jubilee and Shogo, and it occurred to him that no one was thinking about Dr. Seuss books in this equation. 

W.H. Auden, maybe.Peppa Pig, not so much.

Maybe he’d talk to them about it after all.


End file.
